Comparative Linguistic Research

Comparative Linguistic Research

A Case Study: Emerson's Translations from Hafiz's Poetry; the Role of Knowing of Source Language in Translation

Document Type : Research Paper

Author
Mostafa Hosseini
Faculty Member
10.22084/rjhll.2025.31272.2387
Abstract
Introduction
During his lifetime, Emerson gradually translated more than two thousand lines of poetry from different Persian poets. Among them, Hafez and his poetry have the lion’s share. The present paper tries to introduce, criticize and analyze his translations of Hafez's poems. Emerson’s translations are scattered in his various works e.g. his poetry collections and his poetry notebooks. At first, Emerson's translations, which are found in four different sources, are briefly introduced and then are compared with their Persian equivalents. The present article tries, on the one hand, to take a detailed look at Emerson's translations of Hafez's poems and to present a more accurate classification. On the other hand, it is intended to review some of Emerson's translations of Hafez's poems on a case study and list his misreadings, misunderstandings and incorrect translations.
Literature Review: Most of the done research is about Emerson's influence on Hafez's thought and poetry. However, since the past time, there has been general, rather than case study, research on Emerson's translations of Hafez's poems. In recent years, several case studies have been done in this field. For example, Javadi in his book "The Influence of Persian Literature on English Literature" (2016) criticises Emerson's translation of Hafiz. Akrami in an article, named “The Presence of Hafiz in Emerson's Poetry” has done a “Genetics Reading” of a Hafiz’s gazal.

Methodology
The present study is based upon Lefevere’s (1975) seven strategies for poetry translation as the framework. These strategies are as follows: phonemic translation (it tries to reproduce the source language sound in the target language), literal translation (it is a word for word translation), metrical translation (it tries to reproduce the source language meter), verse to prose translation (this kind of translation usually distorts the sense, communicative values and syntax of source text), rhymed translation (it tries to transfer the rhyme of the original poem into target language), blank or free verse translation (it tries to find just the proper equivalents in the target language with a proper semantic result), and interpretation: version and imitation) the former, version. occurs when the absence of source language text is retained and the form is changed and the latter occurs when the translator produces the poem of his own).

Results
According to this research, Emerson's translations of Hafez's poetry can be divided into four groups. First, “literal translation”, in these translations, Emerson tries to translate the German text word-for-word into English. Second, “combined translation”, in these translations, Emerson combines lines from two different gazelles or lines from one gazelle and amalgamate them to create a new poem. Third, “peripheral translation”, in these translations, which are few in number, Emerson translates Hammer-Purgstall’s explanation of a verse and adds it to Hafez's verse. Four, “adaptation/free translation”, in these translations, Emerson takes the theme from Hafez and adds some lines to it and writes an almost new poem. In the end, ten examples of Emerson's translations – eight poems taken from Harold Bloom’s Collected Poems and Translations of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1994) and two items taken from the Emerson’s paper “Persian Poetry” (1857) – has been carefully reviewed and his misreadings, misunderstandings and incorrect translations have been identified.

Discussion
Emerson, in total, selected more than two thousand lines of poems by different Persian poets -- sometimes completely and sometimes one or some lines from a sonnet, a masnavi, an ode, etc. -- mainly from German sources, according to his taste, and translated into English. Emerson has translated nearly a thousand lines of Hafez's poems in his works of prose and poetry. As it turned out, Emerson did not know Persian, so he inevitably translated Hafez's poems from Latin, English, French and mostly German translations. In fact, his translations are translations of translations. Therefore, they are two stages away from their Persian origin. Emerson's knowledge of German, which was weak and with the help of a dictionary, should also be added to these. Thomas Carlyle encouraged Emerson to learn German so that he could read German literature, especially the works of Goethe, in the original language ... Emerson could never read German easily... He found German a difficult language and always had a dictionary close at hand. But Emerson's poetic taste partially covered or eliminated the above defects. However, during the translation of Hafez's poetry, there were cases of misreading and misunderstanding in his translation. From the analysis of Emerson's translations, we find that one of the prominent features of Hafez's poetry, brevity, is not observed in Emerson's translations of Hafez's poems. Emerson has rarely tried to translate every Persian verse into two lines of English. In most cases, he has translated each Persian verse into four English lines according to his German source or sources. In some cases, Emerson could not follow this rule of four lines, and sometimes he changed a Persian verse into six English lines. However, Emerson has not been able to consider another prominent feature of Hafez's poetry, i.e. pun or ambiguity. In addition, some of Emerson's misunderstandings and mistranslations should be attributed to his knowledge of Persian on the one hand, and to the lack of sources and the unavailability of authentic interpretations on the other hand. Apart from all these, the translation of Hafez's poetry should be considered an exception because he is one of the poets - like Pushkin and Goethe - who expressed the poetic spirit of his nation in the most subtle way possible, therefore his poetry rarely lends itself to complete translation. All in all, when Emerson distanced himself from the literal translation of Hafez's poetry and took refuge in his poetic taste, his work was more successful. If we look at Emerson's translation according to Lefebvre's seven strategies, we can conclude that Emerson used more than two strategies: literal translation and interpretive translation.

References
- Akrami, R. (2015). “The Sense of a Half-Translated Ode of Hafiz”: Emerson’s Translations of Persian Poetry. University of Texas.
- Baldick, Chris. (1990). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford University Press.
- Bell, G. (2003). The Garden of Heaven: poems of Hafiz. New York: Dover Publications, INC.
- Davis, D. (2004). “On Not Translating Hafez”. New England Review (1990-), Vol. 25, No. 1/2, Translation: Double Issue (Winter -Spring, 2004), pp. 310-318.
- De Bruijn J. T. P., “HAMMER-PURGSTALL, JOSEPH FREIHERR von,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, XI/6, pp. 644-646, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/hammer-purgstall (accessed on 30 December 2012).
- Dimock, Chee Wai. (2006). Through Other Continents: American Literature across Deep Time. Princton University Press.
- Emerson, R. W. (1994). Ralph Waldo Emerson: Collected Poems and Translations. (eds.) Harold Bloom and Paul Kane. ‎ Library of America.
- Emerson, R. W. (2019). Persian Poetry. David Christopher Lane (ed.). Publisher: ‎Mt. San Antonio College.
- Hammer-Purgstall, J. (1812-1813). Der Diwan von Mohammed Schemsed-din Hafis. Verlag: Stuttgart, Cotta.
- Kane, p. (2009). “Emerson and Hafiz: The Figure of the Religious Poet”. Religion & Literature, Vol. 41, No. 1, Emerson (Spring 2009), pp. 111-139.
- Lefevere, A. (1975). Translating poetry: seven strategies and a blueprint. Assen: Van Gorcum.
- Ronda, Bruce. (1979). “Literary Grieving: Emerson and the Death of Waldo”. The Centennial Review. Vol. 23, No. 1 (winter 1979), pp. 91-104.
- Wahr, Fred B. “Emerson and the Germans”. Monatshefte Für Deutschen Unterricht. 33. 2 (1941): 49-63. Web. 14 Aug 2014.
- Wayne, T. K. (2010). Critical Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts on File.
- White, Ryan. “Neither Here nor There: On Grief and Absence in Emerson's Experience”. The Journal of Speculative Philosophy. New Series, Volume 23, Number 4, 2010, pp. 285-306.
- Yohannan, J. D. (1943). “Emerson’s Translations of Persian Poetry from German Sources,” American Literature 14/4, January 1943, pp. 407-420.
- Yohannan, J. D. (1977). Persian Poetry in England and America: A Two Hundred Year History, Persian Studies Series 3, Delmar, N.Y.
Keywords
Hafiz
Emerson
Bloom
Purgestall
Subjects
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-  Lefevere, A. (1975). Translating poetry: seven strategies and a blueprint. Assen: Van Gorcum.
-  Ronda, Bruce. (1979). “Literary Grieving: Emerson and the Death of Waldo”. The Centennial Review. Vol. 23, No. 1 (winter 1979): 91-104.
-  Wahr, Fred B. (2014). “Emerson and the Germans”. Monatshefte Für Deutschen Unterricht. 33. 2 (1941): 49-63. Web. 14 Aug 2014.
-  Wayne, T. K. (2010). Critical Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts on File.
-  White, Ryan. (2010). “Neither Here nor There: On Grief and Absence in Emerson's Experience”. The Journal of Speculative Philosophy. New Series, Volume 23, Number 4, 2010: 285-306.
-  Yohannan, J. D. (1943). “Emerson’s Translations of Persian Poetry from German Sources,” American Literature 14/4, January 1943: 407-420.
-  Yohannan, J. D. (1977). Persian Poetry in England and America: A Two Hundred Year History, Persian Studies Series 3, Delmar, N.Y.